Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Bartholomew County, Indiana, has about 85,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Bartholomew Circuit and Superior Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Bartholomew County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bartholomew County
The Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bartholomew County. It reported 997 arrests for 2025.
One city in Bartholomew County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Columbus, 51,970 residents: 1,452 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The Edinburgh Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Bartholomew County, so its arrests are not broken out for Bartholomew County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Bartholomew County: Indiana University at Columbus (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bartholomew County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Columbus: 1,452 for 2025, 1,032 for 2024 and 3,333 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office: 997 for 2025, 672 for 2024 and 3,071 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,449 arrests that year.
Through March 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 488 arrests, against 509 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bartholomew County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bartholomew County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 260 people, up from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 362 beds, and it ran at 67 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office at bartholomew.in.gov/sheriff.html (page title: Sheriff), phone 812-379-1750, Monday - Friday between the hours of 8 AM - 5 PM., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Indiana Department of Correction lists its inmates at offenderlocator.idoc.in.gov/idoc-ofs-1.0.2/ofs.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Bartholomew County
An arrest in Bartholomew County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Bartholomew Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at in.gov/courts/local/bartholomew-county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bartholomew.in.gov/prosecutor.html).
Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
Indiana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online, through the Indiana State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Bartholomew County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act the agency must answer within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email, and it may charge a copy fee set by the agency, within statutory limits.
- An arrest by the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 812-379-1750.
- An arrest in Columbus: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Indiana University at Columbus: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bartholomew Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at in.gov/courts/local/bartholomew-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bartholomew.in.gov (page title: How do I request public records?).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bartholomew County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Bartholomew County: Columbus. Hope, Elizabethtown, Hartsville, Clifford and Jonesville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bartholomew Circuit and Superior Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Bartholomew County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Columbus (51,970)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bartholomew County each year?
Columbus reported 1,452 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,449 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bartholomew County?
Ask the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office at 812-379-1750; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bartholomew.in.gov/sheriff.html.
Where are people arrested in Bartholomew County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bartholomew County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Bartholomew County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act the answer is due within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bartholomew.in.gov.
Is this the official Bartholomew County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.